Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Personal care articles such as infant diapers, training pants, adult incontinence products, and the like are well known. Such personal care articles have achieved wide acceptance due to their ability to receive and absorb body exudates, whether large amounts or small, and may or may not include an absorbent core or pad therein.
This invention pertains to fastener systems for such articles. Such fastener systems include fastening tabs having securing zones and friction zones. The fastener system secures the personal care article to the body of a user. In one embodiment, a pair of fastening tabs extend outwardly from opposing sides of a rear portion of the personal care article for selective securement to the front portion of the article.
In general, personal care articles should comfortably fit the body of a wearer. However, personal care articles must also contain the designed quantity of body exudates and thus must fit properly. Personal care articles generally have tabs at the rear of the personal care article that extend outwardly and secure to a front portion of the article. Such tabs may employ flexible microhook fasteners. When securely fastened to the body of a wearer, some known fastening tabs may be positioned relative tightly against the body of the user. During normal wear, including normal movements by the wearer, microhooks on the tab may contact the skin of the wearer and may respectively irritate the skin of the wearer. This occurs in large part at the edges of the fastening tab, as the tab becomes exposed to the skin when the front panel and rear panel of the personal care article do not entirely cover the skin, or as the user lifts up a leg, moving the panels of the personal care article apart, whereby the skin of the wearer contacts the microhooks. The closer the microhooks are positioned to the side edges of the personal care article, the more likely that the microhooks will contact the user""s skin, thus effecting the above described irritation. Thus, some hooks of secured fastening tabs cause red marks on the skin of a wearer. The invention overcomes this problem and improves the relative comfort and securement of the personal care article relative to the body of a user.
In the present invention, fastening tabs for securing the rear portion to the front portion of a personal care article include a friction zone for preventing radial shifting of the front portion with respect to the fastening tab during normal usage. The friction zone is formed by a friction element having sufficient softness to provide comfort when contacting the skin of a wearer.
In one embodiment, the fastening tab has first and second sides, a length. and a width, the first side of the fastening tab comprising a first surface, a securing zone for securing the fastening tab, as part of a personal care article, to an outer cover, and a friction zone, the first surface at the friction zone having substantially no securement properties, and having a kinetic coefficient of friction of at least about 1.5 when measured against a polypropylene necked spunbond laminate, the spunbond laminate comprising first and second polypropylene spunbond layers having a weight of about 0.65 to about 0.70 ounces per square yard after necking, and a fiber size of about 2 to about 2.5 denier, the necked spunbond laminate including an elastomeric film core in surface-to-surface relationship with the spunbond layers, the coefficient of friction measured at a temperature of between about 22 degrees and about 24 degrees Celsius, when the friction zone is secured to a 100 gram sled and the polypropylene necked spunbond laminate is secured to a moving platen, the coefficient of friction between the friction zone and the outer cover being sufficient to prevent surface-to-surface radial shifting of the front portion with respect to the fastening tab during normal usage.
In most embodiments the fastening tab includes a tab substrate disposed toward the second side of the fastening tab and thus underlying the securing zone and the friction zone. The tab substrate preferably comprises a nonwoven material.
In most embodiments the securing zone comprises a securing element mounted in surface-to-surface relationship to the tab substrate at the securing zone. The securing element preferably comprises hooks or microhooks. However, the securing element can comprise loops of a hook and loop fastener system for releasably securing the tab to the front portion of a personal care article. The securing element can be permanently secured to the tab substrate by adhesive.
In most embodiments, the friction zone comprises a friction element, mounted in surface-to-surface relationship to a friction surface area, corresponding to the friction zone, on the first side of the tab substrate. The friction element preferably comprises a foam material, such as an open-cell flexible polyurethane foam. The foam material has an uncompressed thickness of less than about 10 millimeters, preferably less than about 5 millimeters, and most preferably less than about two millimeters.
In another embodiment, the friction element extends substantially the entire length and width of the fastening tab. Thus the friction element also functions as the tab substrate. The securing zone comprises a securing element attached in surface-to-surface relationship with a portion of a first surface of the friction element. The friction element is secured to a personal care article thus forming a fastening tab.
The friction zone preferably is free from functional amounts of tackifying agents. Thus the friction zone provides friction against relative movement of the front portion of the personal care article relative to the fastening tab.
In some embodiments, especially those having a nonextensible outer cover and a nonextensible bodyside liner, the fastening tab can be extensible.
Another family of embodiments include a personal care article having a front portion, a rear portion, and a crotch portion, the personal article comprising a body substrate, including an outer cover, and a bodyside liner in facing relation with the outer cover, and first and second fastening tabs, secured to and extending outwardly from the substrate at opposing sides of the rear portion of the personal use article. The fastening tabs include securing zones located proximate outboard ends of the tabs and friction zones located inwardly of the securing zones, the friction zones providing no securement of the tabs to the personal care article. The securing zones of the fastening tabs secure the tabs to the outer cover at the front portion of the personal care article and the friction zones stabilize the front portion with respect to the rear portion by resisting relative surface-to-surface movement of the front portion of the outer cover with respect to the fastening tabs.
In some embodiments, the personal care article includes an absorbent body located between the bodyside liner and the outer cover, the personal care article thus comprising an absorbent article for receiving exudates.
In some embodiments, the friction elements comprise foam materials having sufficient softness to avoid red marking of a leg of a wearer at leg openings closed by respective fastening tabs.
In some embodiments, the friction zones extend inwardly on the respective fastening tabs such that the friction zones extend over part of the substrate at opposing sides of the rear portion of the article.
In some embodiments, the outer cover comprises a material having an extensibility in at least one direction. The bodyside liner comprises a material having an extensibility in at least one direction.
In some embodiments, the first and second fastening tabs are secured to the bodyside liner at opposing sides of the rear portion of the personal care article by ultrasonic bonding.
In some embodiments, the friction elements define friction zones at opposing sides of the front portion of the personal use article, the friction elements being permanently secured to the outer cover at the opposing sides. The friction elements provide no securement of the front portion to the fastening tabs or rear portion, the securing zones of the fastening tabs securing the tabs to the outer cover at the front portion of the personal care article. The securing zones are placed inwardly from the friction elements when secured to the body of a wearer. The friction elements stabilize the front portion with respect to the rear portion by contacting the respective fastening tabs or the rear portion of the personal use article, and resist relative surface-to-surface movement of the fastening tabs with respect to the front portion.
In other embodiments of the invention, the personal care article has a body substrate, including an outer cover, and a bodyside liner, and first and second fastening tabs at opposing sides of the rear portion of the personal use article, the fastening tabs including friction zones comprising friction elements, the friction elements providing substantially no securement of the fastening tabs to the personal care article, the friction elements having a kinetic coefficient of friction of at least about 1.5 when measured against the outer cover.